My Two Cents Worth

Mark Buehrle's performance of setting aside 45 consecutive batters is one of baseball's all-time best pitching feats. This year is the 50th anniversary of Harvey Haddix throwing 12 perfect innings -- and then losing the game -- for the best single game ever pitched. Buerle may have come close to matching Hard-Luck Harvey.

Buehrle did not do it one game, but that may be even tougher than what Haddix did. Mark faced two teams while Harvey dominated one. And while Haddix' dominance could be chalked up to one bad game by the Braves of '59, Buehrle faced the Rays and Twins -- two fairly good offensive teams.

Beuhrle has long been ignored as one of the better pitchers in the game, no more. Watching the White Sox lefty is seeing a pitching clinic. Get the ball and pitch, there is no need to be taking a mid-afternoon stroll around the mound.

Most importantly, however, is the confidence to throw strikes. A pitcher who trusts his stuff will throw it over the plate and have the batter hit it weakly.

Kudos to Buehrle for garnering the credit he has long deserved.

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"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" has come to Queens.

The Good: How about the play on the field. Stringing together some wins and making a run at the Wild Card. For a change both the bats and the pitching staff have made contributions. Despite the injuries, a playoff spot is still within shouting distance.

Top to bottom the club is playing fine baseball. Good starts, timely hits, solid relief and sound defense. And all against teams vying for the same playoff spot. Once again, keep in mind, no other team will be adding the kind of talent to their roster for the stretch like the Mets will -- if the DL starts clearing up.

The Bad: Tony Bernazard taking his shirt off and challenging Minor Leaguers to a fight is as bad as it gets. Most fans would have no idea who the Vice President, Player Development guy is for their team. Yet, Bernazard keeps getting his name in the paper and almost always for the wrong reasons.

On top of that, Tony almost came to blows with Francisco Rodriguez -- one of the few top Mets not on the DL.

The Ugly: Well, few teams can take doing the right thing -- firing Bernazard -- and turn it into a disaster like the Mets did this week. First Fred Wilpon and then Omar Minaya have come out and apologized for attacking Adam Rubin's integrity.

Wilpon said he's not happy with the direction of the team. Is that the first sign for Omar to start packing? The Mets hierarchy has been known to be swayed by public opinion.

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Thank you Brett Favre for not completely destroying our fond memories of your days in Green Bay. While not the best quarterback to throw a football, certainly one of the most exciting.

We can forget about the one year with the Jets -- unless you're a Jets fan, of course -- but a year with the Vikings would be hard to overlook.

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Two more names from "the list" have come to light. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz failed a drug test in 2003 according to The New York Times.

This has to really sting Red Sox Nation. While many Yankees have been known steroid users, this would be like finding out Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams were on the juice during the '98 season. Manny and Papi were not bit players, they were the heart and soul of the team.